Killing Eve‘s first season not only shot Sandra Oh straight out of her Grey’s Anatomy scrubs and onto the Emmys red carpet, but it also brought with it the name Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Waller-Bridge, who was the writer and executive producer of the British spy thriller (she stayed on as executive producer of season two, however, didn’t write the script), was relatively unknown on an international scale before Killing Eve‘s release in May 2018, however, it was the show she created beforehand – in 2016 – that’s now getting all the attention.
Fleabag‘s second season has just been nominated for 11 Emmy awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series and a Lead Actress nod for Waller-Bridge, who not only wrote the show but stars in it as the main character, a woman navigating her mid-thirties in London known only by the name Fleabag.
RELATED: ‘Fleabag’ Will Be Your Favourite TV Show Of The Year (Maybe Even All Time)
Not only has she successfully created two hit shows, she was brought on to write the new James Bond film – a request by Daniel Craig himself – and is currently making another series with HBO.
Here, we’ve rounded up everything to know about Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the woman making waves in television for all the right reasons (even when they may seem wrong – see: Barack Obama’s scene in Fleabag episode one).
Fleabag was originally a stand-up comedy routine
Waller-Bridge performed what would become Fleabag‘s first season as an hour-long comedy routine at Edinburge Fringe Festival in 2013. After winning the Fringe First Award, Waller-Bridge created the first season of Fleabag, alongside her best friend and business partner Vicky Jones, which was released in 2016.
Waller-Bridge starred in Star Wars
Waller-Bridge auditioned for role as a droid on Solo: A Star Wars Story without actually knowing was a droid was (or having watched any of the Star Wars films. It wasn’t until one of the directors made a robot motion when asking her to read the part a little differently that she realised she wasn’t supposed to be a human. Naturally, she got the part.
Fleabag wasn’t Waller-Bridge’s first show
Though she’s known for Fleabag and Killing Eve, Waller-Bridge’s first project was Crashing, another show she both wrote and starred in, this time taking place at an abandoned hospital where six twenty-somethings live.
She once screamed at Meryl Streep
In 2011, Waller-Bridge found herself on set with Meryl Streep while filming The Iron Lady. After getting close enough to tell Streep a joke, which by her definition “landed”, Waller-Bridge explains getting flustered during their next encounter when Streep asks her what she’s eating. Instead of answering like, well, normal, Waller-Bridge says she grabbed her plated and screamed, “MY APPLE CRUMBLE,” making a startled Streep break character in surprise, returning to her American accent to assure Waller-Bridge in fact wasn’t trying to steal her food.
She started out as a theatre actress
As well as Star Wars and the Iron Lady, you also might recognise Waller-Bridge from Broadchurch season two, where she played junior barrister Abby Thompson.
Her friendship with her business partner was a huge part of what launched Fleabag
Vicky Jones is Waller-Bridge’s real-life BFF and business partner, who directed Fleabag, has worked alongside Waller-Bridge on Crashing and Killing Eve and who is now writing a new show with HBO, which Waller-Bridge is executive producing. On a recent podcast interview, Waller-Bridge says Jones has been a “huge, huge part of anything good that’s come out of my career” and both her “partner in crime” and “muse.” *BRB, calling our best friend.*
She’s creating a new show with HBO
While Waller-Bridge has confirmed Fleabag won’t be returning for a third season, she is currently working on a new project with HBO, titled Run. In our humble opinion, it can’t come soon enough.
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